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The Ohio State Board of Education got a cash infusion to avoid hiking the teacher licensure fee

By: Sarah Donaldson | Statehouse News Bureau
Posted on: Wednesday, August 21, 2024

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The Ohio State Board of Education got a more than $4 million cash infusion Monday that will likely stave off a hike in teacher licensing fees.

Seven members sitting on the Office of Budget and Management’s Controlling Board voted to transfer the money out of the controlling board’s emergency purposes fund. The vote came nearly a year after the GOP-majority legislature took most of the state board’s authority away and left it with a serious shortfall in money. Earlier this year, board members had mulled hiking fees as one solution.

“I can tell you in good faith and by my best estimations, I’ve never seen an agency, in my 35 years in state government and in the military, that’s running as lean as we are,” said Paul Craft, who heads the state board. Craft said in recent months it cut back staff and eliminated most travel.

The state board initially asked the controlling board for $1.85 million. Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) proposed the higher dollar amount of $4.66 million.

“We’re a conservative legislature that is constantly trying to cut taxes and cut fees and cut regulations for people out there,” Edwards said Monday. “I don’t think teachers are getting rich in our state. I don’t want to see us raising teacher licensure fees.”

Several lawmakers across the aisle lauded the move. In a joint news release, Ohio House Democrats said Monday it would allow the state to avert an “excessive and burdensome increase in license fees in the near future.”

Still, Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) said in the statement she was “alarmed” by how long it took and how challenging it was for lawmakers to coalesce around a short-term solution.

Last year, GOP lawmakers shifted most duties away from the majority-elected State Board of Education and to a state agency led by a member of Gov. Mike DeWine’s cabinet. During his first month on the job, Craft said in January the board could be in a multi-million dollar deficit by summer and he didn’t see a way to cut through its shortfalls alone.

“We literally, as we get into that June timeframe, will probably not be able to make payroll,” Craft said then. “That’s worrisome. Maybe and if we’re very, very careful, maybe that can be July, maybe that can be August.”

At the time, a governor’s spokesperson said it wasn’t allotted more money because its workers and workload were moving over to the rebranded Department of Education and Workforce. Following the overhaul, the department has taken oversight of education and workforce policy, while the board retained control of the licensure process.

In October 2023, a Franklin County court order initially delayed that transition, after seven Democratic members of the board sued to block it—but a later decision allowed the transition to go forward. That case was dismissed earlier this year, although the members are appealing, according to court documents.